Technology | Media | Telecommunications

Thursday, October 14, 2010

comScore performed a recent market study of mobile phone usage behaviors in Japan, the United States and Europe that explores the key market segmentation opportunities. The study examined content consumption and demographic comparisons across markets to provide a comparative look at how consumers interact with mobile media.

"Mobile media usage continues to accelerate across the globe, driven by advancing technologies and the growing number of content options available to consumers," said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile.

A cross-market analysis revealed significant differences among consumers by geography. Mobile users in Japan were the "most connected" of the three markets, with more than 75 percent using connected media -- browsed, accessed applications or downloaded content -- in June, compared to 43.7 percent in the U.S. and 38.5 percent in Europe.

Japanese mobile users also displayed the strongest usage of both applications (Apps) and browsers with 59.3 percent of the entire mobile population accessing their browsers in June and 42.3 percent accessing applications. Comparatively, 34.0 percent of mobile users in the U.S. and 25.8 percent in Europe used their mobile browsers, with 31.1 percent in the U.S. and 24.9 percent in Europe accessing applications.

Messaging methods also varied with Europeans displaying the strongest use of text messaging with 81.7 percent sending a text message in June, compared to 66.8 percent in the U.S. and just 40.1 percent in Japan. Japanese users exhibited the highest reach in the email category at 54 percent, while consumers in the U.S. were most likely to use instant messaging services on their mobile (17.2 percent).

Social networking and blogs reached the greatest percentage of mobile users in the U.S. at 21.3 percent, followed by Japan at 17.0 percent and Europe at 14.7 percent. Japanese users were most likely to capture photos (63.0 percent) and watch TV or video (22.0 percent) on their mobiles, while Europeans were most likely to listen to music (24.2 percent) and play games (24.1 percent).

A demographic analysis showed that mobile media consumption was more balanced across age segments in Japan, when compared to the U.S. and Europe.

In the U.S., 25-34 year olds were 44 percent more likely to access mobile media than an average mobile user, with 18-24 year olds 39 percent more likely. In Europe, 18-24 year olds represented the most-connected segment, 54 percent more likely to be mobile media users, while persons age 25-34 were 35 percent more likely.

The U.S. and Europe also showed greater gender disparity among mobile media audiences. Females were 9 percent less likely to be mobile media users in the U.S., while females in Europe were 16 percent less likely.

In summary, marketers can gain a competitive edge by studying the key drivers of media consumption trends. That insight can be applied to the development of targeted marketing that acknowledges the unique needs and wants of these apparent consumer segments.